It seems dancing around handbags is alive and well and thriving in Fenham!!  Last week we held a fabulous oldies night (that’s the music, not the people!!) in our hall.  This was a partnership social with the Search Project.  Around 4 times a year we like to try something we think everyone will enjoy – and this time, in answer to many requests, we used music from the 50s 60s and 70s.

At half time we stopped for pies and peas – we’d found a community catering company who did them for the amazing price of £1.50 a head, each portion supplied in it’s own poly box with a knife and fork – so no washing up – hoorah!!!!

We sold all our tickets and could have sold more, and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, even though it was pointed out that I had forgotten to include any ABBA in the playlist (my bad!) We only had one complaint that the music was too loud – and we even had some brave souls trying out the karaoke.

I read recently that dancing is one of the most effective ways to keep mind and body active into older ages – so not only was everyone having a great time, they were doing their health the world of good too.

There were requests to do it more often – even as often as fortnightly – but having given it some thought, I’ll not.  It’s not that it takes much organising, just put together a playlist on the computer and set it away, it’s not that I find it difficult to keep smiling for over 3 hours – because that came naturally  watching everyone having such a good time. No; its just that if we do it more often there’s the chance that it might lose its “specialness”, that it might become a chore, that eventually we might struggle to sell tickets – because it is quite possible to have too much of a good thing!

One of our congregation who came along (and there were quite a few) asked me why these people weren’t coming to church as joyfully on a Sunday. It wasn’t a question I expected to hear, possibly because I thought it was obvious – we don’t dance and have pies and peas in church on a Sunday. It became obvious that he expected a serious answer – so I thought about it for a while – and pointed out that firstly, they WERE in church, they were having a good time, they were experiencing “life in all it’s fullness” (John 10.10) – and that indeed if he thought it might be possible for them to see that coming to church on a Sunday might be relevant for them, that perhaps he could try sitting with them and talking to them and making church seem a less scarey place?

It always seems strange to me that those I meet at discos, music events, singing clubs etc are surprised that I work for the church.  “No you don’t” is a common reply – and I wonder if that is because they expect church people to be something different? Have we forgotten how to have fun? Do they expect me to be sanctimonious? Do they expect me to be “good”? I don’t really know – but I know that if my questioner wants people to come and sit in church with him on a Sunday, he is going to have to ask them himself!

Time to stop mucking around with this blogging thing.  Nice lady in the CRCW office in London suggested this would be a great way to keep people up to date with what we are doing in various parts of the country. There aren’t many CRCWs in the country and I think it’s a really good idea to keep everyone updated.  Well, it’s a really good idea until I come to the practicalities of actually blogging on a regular basis.  If you’ve seen any of my other page  (RSMLittle green gem) its mostly about the insulating of the church hall – and how much difference it has made to the people who use it.

This one is different. I plan for this blog to be about ALL of my work – and sometimes what I think about it (though that’s usually fairly irrelevant).  I plan to update it every month (HA! we’ll see how that pans out!) and write a little bit about something interesting.

This month I have been preparing to be a DJ for a golden oldies disco.  Working out a playlist from the 50s 60s and 70s that everyone will enjoy – and the logistics of seating/feeding everyone and leaving space for dancing in our hall.

I’ve done DJ -ing before, years ago when I was a youth leader – so I kind of know what to do – though technology has moved on to the point where all I need is a computer and a sound system.  I’m looking forward to it, it’s been a while – I’ll let you know how it goes!! and I promise there will be pictures – meanwhile, here is a lovely photo of the band who use our place as rehearsal space, they did a lovely concert for us back in February.

This is the first day I’ve had a chance to sit down and think about this blog thingy.  What I’m uncertain about is – who is it for?  I know there are some right clever people who put really thoughtful insights online – I’m not one of those.  There are people who cook and blog their recipes n stuff – I’m not one of those.  I’ve seen lovely blogs from people who knit, sew, paint etc and share their tips so everyone can benefit from their talent – I’m not one of those.

I suppose I could use it to have a rant about stuff – but who would care?  I often see people ranting on facebook and wonder who they think cares? Do all those complaining about Chris Evans hosting Top Gear really think the BBC are crying into their beer because they “will never watch it again”?  Mostly I use Faceache to share good news or little things I want my friends and family to see – I don’t think I could share anything on there that I really cared about.

So who or what is this blog for? *shrugs*

I’ve had a little think, and what I think is – I’ll do this blog for me.  The other me.  The me two years or so hence, who wants to remember what happened and how I felt.  God willing I’ll still be here in a few years and be able to look back on this with a smile *waves at future self*

This week I’ve had a lovely time at summer school in Windermere – learned lots of stuff I didn’t know I needed to know and now back to reality – just as well, cos I really can’t cope with three square meals a day!  and while I have lots to think about – tonight’s Scout AGM that I have to chair, the booklets and powerpoint for Sunday, next weeks meetings – the thing that’s bothering me most is, what do I wear to my son’s graduation.  There will be no hat.  Maybe a nice frock? but to be honest – I’d be just as happy to wear wellies and a raincoat, nothing will spoil the day – and what’s important is that Tom is happy.  Anyone who knows Tom will know what it has taken for him to get to this point – and he is the first person that people can remember,  to have gone thru foundation year in Durham Physics department and actually stayed there long enough to gain an honours degree.  My heart might just burst with pride. 🙂

My intention here was to put a video or something – maybe the levellers “beautiful day” – but as usual I got caught up in a YouTube loop and didn’t choose one – and I might also have struggled to figure out how to put it on.  I’m still learning!!

This is my first time at blogging – go easy on me, right? I needed to find out how it works – maybe I’ll keep it up.  Seems simple enough – come back again soon and see how I go!